


time and tide wait for no man

by sleepfighter



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Family, Gen, Post-Canon, Spoilers for everything, being the ex-hero, non-traditional parenting, nopon bootlegging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 09:19:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1092230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepfighter/pseuds/sleepfighter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the last, disastrous trip out of Colony 9, Dunban didn't think he'd leave the colony anytime soon. Fate has other ideas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. through the leg

**Author's Note:**

  * For [belforma](https://archiveofourown.org/users/belforma/gifts).



He had been through the Tephra Caves hundreds of times before, for all kinds of reasons, and every time he looked at it, it was a little different. Some things are the same—it hid beauties within it and harshness, remaining about as hospitable as the lizards that would as much as ignore you as spit poison at you. Pausing to drink at the first oasis—he might have be trying to hurry, but he was a year or more out of his top fighting shape to begin with, as Dickson had bitten out as he'd helped Dunban into his shirt earlier—he looked upwards, at the small crack in the celling that provided a small crack of sky, moonlight streaming off the shoulders of the Bionis. "Beautiful", he murmured without thinking. "The moon's full—I'll have to tell Fiora I saw it in the Cave of Tears."

And in between one breath to the next, the full force of memory struck him straight between the shoulders, hard enough to make him want to gasp. It was the first time he'd really forgotten that Fiora was gone and most probably, dead, and it hurt in ways he'd trained himself to forget more than once. If you followed the accounting of the dead to its cruelest and most bloodless conclusion, the loss shouldn't hurt too badly, Fiora being taken, since he, and all other members of the colony were an old hand at loss. Being one of an estimated thousand or less then that of a species could do that to a person. But Fiora had been all he had left, some part of his brain said, his beautiful, smart, capable sister, more daughter than not, and even if he had something or someone else to keep him back in the colonies instead of running off to save the world, he thought she'd still be here. He owed her one more try. 

"Come on, Beast," Dickson called as he stood up, not twenty feet away. He'd knelt to fill their canteens as Dunban had stared into the distance, and now he tossed one back to Dunban, who tucked it onto his belt under his right hand. "If Shulk and Reyn haven't found some kind of trouble only a fool'd get into by now, I'll be shocked. And I'd better not leave you here, or you'll fall into a pond and drown. Let's not leave you here to rot."

Dunban made a little smile as he walked towards the path that'd take them upwards, or tried to, and took a breath that stabbed his heart when it threatened to falter. But with every yard gained, he took another. He hoped that with the Bionis, Fiora could see that moon&mdashfor luck, however it may find her.


	2. up the arse

Reyn peered int the murky mist over the swamp. "Can't see farther than I could throw a bunnyt," he bellowed back over his shoulder.

"Shhh! Do you want to rouse the quadwings? You'll get us all killed, you dimwit," Sharla hissed at Reyn. Alarm was written across her face as she elbowed him to emphasize her point. She'd probably heard the road tales from the odd Nopon trader that'd make its way down into the colonies, Dunban thought. Juju was staring, wide eyed and clearly timid, as he ducked a little further into Ohlaron's side, who was projecting his usual brand of stoicism.

Shulk made a face as he walked in front of the little group from Colony 6 behind Dickson, and Dunban chuckled. "Adventure coming with unexpected side effects?" he enquired softly. 

"I've never been in the Satori Marsh before," Shulk admitted after a long pause. "I don't remember that first journey very well, either side of it. But we used the old way when we went around the first time and back." He shrugged. "I've been thinking about it a bit since we've been on the road, but I haven't really remembered anything conclusive."

"Like carrying a brog around my shoulders, you were," Dickson grumbled. "Either dead weight or squirmy when you woke up. But we got lucky and found a trader group who let us hitch a ride from the leg. We went back through the marsh the second time, though, once the little biter was tucked somewhere safe back in Colony 9." He shook his head as Shulk made a sad face at his words. "I've traveled a little more recently, kid. I've been down this road a few times since. There's a good spot to camp a few hours in. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd best see if those dratted lizardmen have pushed forward. Be ever so embarrassing to waltz straight into them. Won't be a minute."

Shulk made a groan as Dickson moved off to make his scout, muttering, "I have eyes...!" 

Dunban quirked a small smile as he came to a stop beside him. "So, Shulk, how are you holding up?"

"Eh...not so bad as all that. It's like it's been one of those extended camping trips that you and Dickson used to do. Mostly." Shulk frowned slightly.

As two single men of the village raising orphans alone as well as fellow soldiers, Dunban and Dickson had gravitated naturally to each other to help, but each had their pride enough to not want the other to interfere too much. But there were some things it was easier to do together. Shulk, Fiora, and, eventually, Reyn had been taken on plenty of small camping jaunts around the colony so they'd learn the basics. Still, they'd not strayed too far from home, as getting too far from the anti-aircraft batteries was so dangerous, especially with children. For most of them, this was the farthest they'd ever been from a homs settlement.

Shulk sighed. "I mean—the biggest change is really how far away from everything we are. We can't just turn around and have a curry for lunch on our way back." Shulk's stance shifted, and if Dunban hadn't seen it in Shulk's eyes when fighting Xorn, he would have taken the light there as just a reflection of some kind, a trick. "But there are more important things, aren't there?" 

Dunban could only nod, and they fell silent as the rest of the party caught up to them.


	3. surging upwards

Dunban, who'd traveled very far in his time, had never taken the back road, as it were, to the top of the arm joint. The last time he'd traveled the circumference of the waist and up the chest, going with the army as it had gathered size, picking up nomads and smaller defense forces to join up in one desperate thrust from homs against the Mechon. The nopon weren't exactly discouraging of company, but they preferred their neutrality, and given their trade contacts with the High Entia, they had the contacts to back it all up. It was therefore as much of a wonder and a treasure to see the inside of the nopon homeland for him as it was for everyone else. 

Even Princess Melia, quiet as she was, found the area to be unique. He could see it in how here eyes widened slightly from time to time as they ascended the tree, taking in the settlement and talking to the inhabitants as she went. She was surprisingly patient with each stop, talking to each nopon quite seriously about their daily lives and their hopes and fears despite what sounded like something far more childish to Dunban's ears. Lured in by the appearance of the grace of the High Entia, the inhabitants of Frontier Village were only too happy to chat with her. And if she occasionally stared off into the distance or paused at strange times—well, it was no more awkward than any other conversation with the High Entia that the nopon had had before. 

They'd had no trouble gaining the chief's acquiescence to help with the Princess's quest and a place to camp on the platforms inside the tree where they could bunk out of the way of the 'round the clock industry of the village. Shortly after, the others had gone downstairs to outfit themselves properly in the shops full of shrewd Nopon bargainers. Dunban, content to know that it would be very difficult for the small group of them to get lost or in trouble going back up the tree and with no urgent needs he could think of, had elected to stay and keep watch. So did that selfsame Rikki, shooed back by his wife, who, by the basket she had grabbed in her ear-hands and her scolding, had decided to do some extra grocery shopping and didn't trust him in the slightest not to mess that up.

Rikki's children (a more adorable pack of holy terrors, Dunban could not think of, nor a fuzzier one) seemed content to play amongst themselves as Dunban relaxed by the edge of the platform. Dunban had a technique manual to hand, but if he was being honest with himself, had hardly done more then open it up from his bookmark and was instead watching the area around him. Rikki was attempting to stay back from the fray, but he tutted and fussed as his children tumbled like a champ-pon. 

Eventually, however, Rikki seemed to be content that no one was maiming their siblings too badly and finally came to a stop next to Dunban. He glanced upwards, meeting Dunban's eyes. "Dun-dun like children?" 

Dunban nodded. "I, ah. Had a sister, once. About the same age as Shulk; they were friends. I took care of her when my parents died. Her name was Fiora." 

Rikki nodded to himself, swaying in place. "Ah. Explains why Hero act like a daddypon. Had little ones to take care of, once. All by self?" He glanced up to see Dunban's short nod before he turned away. "Not like me and wifeypon. Always together, we've been."

Dunban shrugged his left shoulder. "I suppose there's that. I'm not the only single parent where I come from: Shulk was raised by a friend of mine named Dickson. And Xorn &mdash he used to be our blacksmith before he died &mdash raised his daughter on his own. We homs have gotten used to it, I suppose."

Rikki frowned. "So many mommypon and daddypon lost," he said softly. 

Dunban sighed, looking down at the small cluster of their party coming back up the steps. "They died doing what was important to them. What more could a parent ask for?"


	4. falling from arm to arm

Dunban stretched out on the dock, sun-warmed metal against his back. He watched Fiora (precious, irreplaceable, impossible &mdash especially, impossible) step across the deck towards where Shulk was talking animatedly with the engineer. Rizaka. He supposed that he appreciated that mechon approached, at least superficially, bionis life. It was strange after so many years of fighting to have met mechon, no, machina that were so close to what homs and the High Entia were. Enough so that the robots apparently didn't mind the staring, so long as it was subtle. He'd known a homs or two who wouldn't have been nearly as kind under the circumstances in his time. 

He heard a gentle tread of metallic against metal and he twisted around, to where Vanea had stopped. Dunban made an effort to incline his head calmly from where he was sitting. "Hello there."

Vanea made a calm wave in return. "Hello, Dunban. You don't need to get up. I just wanted to talk to you before we left again."

He nodded, shifting along the wall. "Please. My perch can also be yours."

Dunban watched as Shulk created something with tubing—ah. A breathing apparatus of some kind, apparently, as he demonstrated it to Fiora. Most ingenious. Vannea settled into place beside him, staring out into the little knot of his group. She seemed not entirely at ease, coiled as she was.

"I didn't want to make too much of a fuss about things," she said, after a pause. "But I thought I'd check in with you for a moment. If you were still all right with everything that we were doing here."

Dunban opened his mouth to speak, but then paused for a moment, considering the question, before shaking his head and starting again. "You . . . what you've done, I think, I've tried to understand, to the best of my abilities. I'm not going to live as long as you have, and I didn't ever think I'd be walking among the gods or those touched by them. But from what I can tell, working with Egil must have been something like choosing to be the Hero."

Vanea went tense beside him for a moment, then slowly nodded. "And do you regret it? Being the Hero, and then not? What would you do if you did it all over again?"

"Well. It's impossible to hide the fact that I've killed countless mechon. And I didn't regret it then, being the Hero. And now, what's there to miss?" He gestured with his right hand, not bothering to hide the slight twist of pain the short gesture caused him. "Shulk is doing well in handling the Monado and finding out the most unexpected of solutions. I had no idea that a civilization this complex could exist among your people, after all. I suppose it wasn't easy, leaving Fiora behind sometimes and doing the training, keeping the Monado under my control. But I was doing it for the right reasons, I'd like to think. Really, I feel like I should be asking you this question."

Vanea shook her head. "Egil . . . Egil been hurt for many years, to lash out like this. But without him, we would be nothing. He killed so many of you homs. Still, we all suffered for the war in our own ways. Some things, we're never going to get back."

Dunban looked across the warf at Fiora. "This may sound cruel to you, but, if we started over tomorrow, I'd do it again. I may not be able to see the future in the way Shulk does, but I think there are some things that are too precious to me to let go casually."

Vanea paused, then shook her head. "I suppose I can't blame you. I would say the same thing."


	5. shot down to earth

Melia stood on the edge platform, staring out into into the gloom creeping across Satori Marsh. From where he was sitting, Dunban could see a distant expression on her face that had not been there in quite some time, not since they had met. The others had managed to scrape together a small fire and were showing the former city-bound Entia how to cook a fish over a fire. Dunban watched from the edges of the group clustered around the fire, keeping a weather eye on their surroundings. The ruins that the rescue ship had drifted to was mostly safe, but it was best for someone to keep some kind of watch, and he didn't quite feel like joining in the impromptu lesson right at that moment for&mdashfor reasons best left unexplored, he felt. 

If Dunban was honest with himself &mdash and he tried to be—the last week of their journey had been especially trying for everyone. Traveling through Agrinartha, watching Shulk fall from a bullet, finding out about Dickson's treachery—it had all been earthshaking, to find out that so much was different than the apparent status quo. But as hard as it was for him, at least his father and king had not died, nor had his people crumbled out from under him and been told that he was their new foundation. It was a heavy set of burden to lay across such slim shoulders, and Melia was holding it without a moment of complaint. Still, she naturally had her moments of reserve that Dunban had been loathe to intrude upon. He frowned to himself for a moment before standing up, settling his sword at his side, and made his way from the campfire with a purposeful stride.

Thankfully, Melia hadn't strayed very far at all from the group. She had sat down on the edge of the platform and was staring directly into the water. She looked up as Dunban approached, making no effort to hide his footsteps. "Oh. Hello, Dunban."

"Hello, Melia. I'm just taking a look around the camp &mdash no need to get up on my account."

Melia nodded. "I was just trying to clear my head a little. I've had much to think on, these past few days, and the water reminds me of my garden, at home."

Dunban nodded back. "They seemed very peaceful. A good place for thinking, I'd say. You're lucky to have such nice places for reflection."

Melia shrugged. "Part and parcel of the way I have been raised apart. I do not mind, being in groups, but sometimes it is best to be alone."

"Oh? You're quite tolerant for one so young."

Melia smiled, short and bittersweet. "I learned the trick from my bodyguards, I suppose. I saw more of them than anyone else, after mother died. Father was always busy dealing with the state, and Kellen tried to fit me in around his mother. He didn't have a lot of luck with that, but he did his best."

Dunban nodded. "It is good to have someone to teach you these things. Kellen seemed like a nice, smart man. Good head on his shoulders." And loving and dedicated right down to his very bones, until his almost-aunt revealed herself to be the same kind of inhuman creep that Dickson was, but Dunban knew better than to say that last bit out loud.

Melia nodded. "I'm not sure I'd even be here without him. If he hadn't offered to let me go and to be my regent. So many people died from the transformed Telethia. I'm glad I didn't, but seeing my people displaced, and lost, and confused is hard. They're a bit adrift now." She trailed her hands down the curve of the intricate design on the platform.

Dunban nodded. "I don't mean to presume, but I think it's natural to be a little lost." Melia nodded hesitantly as Dunban continued. "It's hard to contemplate a change that large after it first happens to you. That year after the first war was hard on everyone. So many people were fleeing the wrecks of other colonies to ours, salvaging the wrecks of what we could to build the defense force again. So many children stepping into the roles of their parents, becoming soldiers—but we homs kept going. Some better than others, but I hate to think what would have happened had we not. We'd be even more of a disadvantage now. And in a distant way, I know they're a little bit homs now, too. They'll find a way to survive, if they can reach down and find the part that's like us."

Melia frowns. "I hope so . . . "

Dunban smiles that well-practiced smile as he stands up, and if it's a bit forced from the past year or more, the same smile he used to give his squad before charging out into the middle of nowhere, well. That's no one's business but his. "I don't see why not. It's the best shot we've got. And we'll only miss a shot that we don't take."


	6. through and through the sky, with robots

Dunban strode through the quiet colony —, big, solid, better than it had been even before it became the burning husk filled with ghosts that it had been not too long ago—and to the gate. He didn't generally have much trouble sleeping now, but tonight, declared ready to go out into the world on which he now stood, well. To say that he was a touch apprehensive would not have been stretching things in the least. After about an hour of tossing and turning, long after all the others had bunked down in the central hall of the colony, he had taken his cloak and his sword and headed towards the outer farms. If nothing else, he could do a small pest patrol and leave his hosts without quite so many bugs on their hands to deal with in the morning. The outer walls and turrets prevented the Teleitha from coming further in than the pod bay, but the outlying farms were still overrun by other pests. And with the growing population food was a commodity wished for, farming was still something that was tended to when they could by a brave contingent of volunteers. 

He paused as he neared the fountain plaza to glance at the clock. He didn't expect the grating of footsteps against cobblestone, but perhaps, in retrospect, he should have known that he wasn't going to be the only one who couldn't sleep. He walked forward to the gate of the inner wall without looking back and into the farms, pausing as he got to the lookout point to glance around him as Fiora stepped up to his left.

"It's not a bad place if you like gardens."

"What's not to like? Flowers and food." 

Fiora made a face. "I know you like the bugs better than you like the vegetables, big brother. Don't try to lie to me. I remember how many of them you rescued from the produce over the years."

Dunban laughed. "Guilty as charged, I suppose. What's got you up so late?"

Fiora shook her head. "I could say the same to you, you know. And you know that I can take my rest cycle on Junks if I have to in the morning."

Dunban sighed. "I assure you, I was just woken up by the combination of Rikki and Reyn's snoring. I'm honestly not sure which one of them is worse, but together, it's quite the cacophony."

"Mmm." Fiora shifted, bringing both her arms up to rest on the lookout's walls. "And this has nothing to do at all with us getting into that ship and flying off again, one more time, tomorrow, to chase down that snake that used to call itself your friend."

Dunban shrugged with his good arm. "Why would it?"

Fiora sighed. "Well, fine, be that way. _I_ can't sleep because I don't know what's going to happen to me next. To all of us. And Meynth didn't know, and Shulk doesn't know. So all I know is that we're getting on that ship tomorrow and then we're going to have to fight."

Dunban frowned. "Well...even if he can't see anything, it seems rather redundant not to trust in Shulk at this late date. It's not like his visions have always been clear or true to the end. And Meynth...Meynth has done quite enough. She's carried us all, you, here." He sighed. "But one way or another, once we get off that ship, we'll be responsible for making it all end."

Fiora frowned as he continued. "And..well, no matter how it ends tomorrow, I want you to know: I'm glad to see my little sister having done so well for herself. You. Not Meynth, not Shulk, you."

"Dunban..." Fiora swallows, but he gesture her to silence; he wasn't done yet.

"No matter what happens, we need to go into this with a clear heart. I just wanted you to know how proud I am of you, no matter what happens."

And if this was the last time he'd have hug his little sister and tell her how proud he is? He'd take it. He would absolutely take it.


	7. to arrive at the begining

Being a former hero didn't always have its perks, but being tasked as a representative from the old Colony 9 to the new settlement was something Dunban had taken to well enough. Vangarre had been offered the job first, and he'd taken one look at the bright young thing who'd offered him a position of diplomacy and laughed the poor fellow all the way over to Dunban. And, Duban had to concede, it wasn't as if he didn't know all of his fellow delegates after being dragged all over creation and back.

As it was, it was not that he could help the more vigorous efforts of the settlement in its rebuilding, although he could do more than some people (Fiora and Sharla, among others) would allow and did when he could get away with it. 

Unseated from the constraints of the Bionis and the Mechonis, all life had made a rough and bumpy transition to the new land by the sea. And Colony 9 — defended in part by its isolation as much as anything else—had to be rebuilt. Still, though it had taken a solid week of effort even with access to the High Entia ether ships, scouting up and down this new land and ferrying people back and forth, they'd found what they'd needed to build something like the life they'd had. There were worse fates to be had, for certain. 

The talks to band together to clear out what looked to be the remains Alcamoth and the village on the Fallen Arm and forest in exchange for mutual aid and considerations had not gone without bumps, but he was at least thankful that things had progressed as much as they had. Considering that the three races were even talking to each other—despite a history of confusion of violence that had spanned centuries and races—that, in and of itself, was such radical progress that Dunban had no complaints. 

He'd hung his sword on the wall the day they'd returned home — no matter the provenaence of the weapon, it was a fine piece of workmanship that had seen him through a journey that was almost beyond all imagining—and he'd left it up there. It wasn't necessary to his life anymore, by and large.

Dunban bent his head towards Vanea as Oltharon and Chielf Dunga started chatting with each other about the cooking technique of fish, of all things. "I know that you Mechon don't do much beyond drink some water, but do you want to sit down somewhere quiet and have something to drink?"

She tilted her head for a moment, then nodded. "If you don't mind, I wouldn't mind keeping you a bit of company."

He nodded as they turned to the settlement's entrance. "I have some distilled water, if you'd prefer. Or I have some fireywater from the nopon, if that's the sort of thing you can ingest." 

Vanea nodded. "I suppose it's not the same as we normally but it's a special occasion, after all. I would be happy to try some of your fireywater."

They walked together through the colony until they came to the edge of it, which now, instead of leading up to the leg, had a fine view of some not-entirely-familiar cliffs. Dunban didn't really mind the change so much; he'd found a very intriguing new insect outside his door as he'd stepped out to draw some water for his shave this morning. After settling them both at his kitchen table with a glass, Dunban held his up. "To the new world: may it never be stopped in place."

Vanea clinked her glass against his. "Hear, here." She took a sip of the fireywater, and made a face. "My. It almost tastes like maintenance fluid."

Dunban grinned. "That's usually how you know it's the good stuff. Straight from Dunga's secret cellar. We used to trade for it, but he promises that his distiller will be up and at it in under a year, once we've got some of the other reconstruction under control."

Vanea smiled. "It seems that it will be going quite fast indeed, with the help of you homs. Seeing the defense force transformed into a construction group overnight is something special, I must say."

Dunban laughed. "Ah, half of those boys learned how to swing a hammer before they could walk. We're used to rebuilding things. It's exciting to think to think that we might have to expand soon."

"Exciting for all of us, I think."

Dunban shrugged. "And that—that's the real miracle of it all."

Vannea took another sip. "I suppose you would know."

Dunban smiled and said, mildly, "I'm not sure I'd go that far. At the end, with Zanza . . . it wasn't like it was a terribly hard decision. I think we've all had plenty of choices to make, and I think making those choices last, well, the results were more than any of us could dream of, wouldn't you say?"

Vanea paused, then nodded. "And to that, I can drink. To making our own choices, once and for all."

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Yuletide, Belforma! I regret not getting to have a good section with Reyn and Sharla because of time constraints, so hopefully, I will have time to come back to this and fix that.
> 
> My thanks go to my betas for straightening out all the horrible things I do to tenses and to my friends for listening to me while I canon review and said OH MY GOD approximately three thousand times and drove me to the emergency room twice and basically, were as awesome as I could have hoped for.


End file.
